Universal Nutrition Forum

Two former champions who are still among the top light heavyweights in the world, Rich Franklin (24-3) and Dan Henderson (23-7), are slated to headline UFC 93 in a monster 205-pound showdown at The O2 in Dublin, Ireland, on January 17.

Franklin rebounded from a crushing defeat at the hands of Anderson Silva (his second) at UFC 77: "Hostile Territory" back in 2007 to pound out Travis Lutter at UFC 83: "Serra vs. St. Pierre 2" in April of this year. He then followed up that appearance with another winning performance against Matt Hamill with a third round technical knockout at UFC 88: "Breakthrough" earlier this month.

"Ace" has been perfect inside the Octagon (11-0) with the exception of his two losses to Spider.

Henderson hasnt had much luck against the Brazilian, either.
"Dangerous Dan" - with his proven chin and prestigious Greco Roman wrestling pedigree - was supposed to be the man to derail the seemingly invincible champion. And in the first round of their fight at UFC 82: "Pride of a Champion," Henderson appeared to be well on his way.

However, Silva came out in the second frame and finished Henderson with
a submission (rear naked choke) -? the first time that the former Pride FC dual champion had been stopped early since 2005. He, too, rebounded from the loss at UFC 83, outpointing Brazilian jiu-jitsu phenom Rousimar Palharas on all three judges scorecards at UFC 88.

It was his first win inside the Octagon since 1998.

In any other promotion - or if Silva was not in the UFC - its likely that Franklin or Henderson would be middleweight champion. But now both fighters are competing in a heavier division. And there?s no telling if either fighter will continue to fight at middleweight moving forward.
However, Henderson who simultaneously held both the Pride FC 205- and 183-pound titles would be the more likely candidate to challenge the Spider anytime soon.

UFC 93 will also feature another light heavyweight showdown between Mauricio Shogun Rua vs. Mark Coleman. It is the first-ever event for the promotion in the region, airing on pay-per-view (PPV) at 10 p.m ET.

http://93.ufc.com/

Almost forgot about this one! Im heading to it on Saturday. Cant wait. Should be a great atmosphere! Anyone else going to it. Couple of really good fights lined up - Franklin v Henderson - Coleman v Rua - Davis v Lytle.

hey horn dog how was the fight? i watched on tv some great scraps!

Yea it was brilliant! Great atmosphere and not a bad seat in the house. Really impressed with the whole set up.

Some real good fights. The first fight was 5.30 and there was 4 or 5 fights and then at 8 or so it went live and they showed the main 5 fights.

There was an irish guy fighting before the live bit but he lost in the first round but he got some great support. Marus Davis had a real good fight with Lytle and the Henderson fight was class. I would definitely go again you really get your moneys worth with 10 fights

Sounds like a night in temple bar lol!

How much were your tickets? I would have loved to have gone, watched the whole thing at home, some great fights alright.

They weren't bad 75 quid. I think there was 50, 150, and 250 as well. The ones we got were grand. We were 5 rows back on the second tier in the middle. You could still see everything fairly well though. It didnt make any difference what angle you were at because the octagon was down in the middle. Good atmosphere and there was a good few TVs so if you couldnt see exactly what was going on on the ground it was fine.

This was prity gud,enjoyed the franklin vs henderson fight,although I was up 4 rich!

Ha, same!
Was up for old man coleman too!

Not fan of Coleman, but it was good to see his good sportsmans ship after the fight.

shogun was so up for coleman tho.if coleman hadnt been so tired itd have been a different story i reckon